Wyckoff Heights is an area within the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, straddling the border between Bushwick, Brooklyn, and southwest Ridgewood, Queens. Wyckoff Heights was urbanized starting in the late 19th century, and took its name from the Wyckoff family, who owned the land. The area was home first to many German immigrants, later followed by Italian and more recently Latino and Eastern-European residents.
Wyckoff Heights is located largely within ZIP Codes 11237 and 11385. Points of interest include Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and the former Wyckoff Heights Presbyterian Church.
Wyckoff Heights was urbanized starting in the late 19th century, and took its name from the Wyckoff family who owned and farmed much of the land. [1] Development progressed from Brooklyn into Queens as portions of the Wyckoff farm were sold. [2] [3] In 1890, newspapers announced the creation of a new park (now Maria Hernandez Park) to be located in Wyckoff Heights, within the 18th Ward of Brooklyn. [4] [5] In 1892, Queens County property owners established the Wyckoff Heights Improvement Association to lobby for water, sewer, and gas service to the neighborhood, [6] and the next year, the Wyckoff Heights Water Company was formed to supply drinking water to the area. In 1901 residents of the Queens section lobbied the City government to "adopt a system of house numbering" and erect street signs so that the postal service would begin delivery to the neighborhood. [7] The last 18 acres (73,000 m2) of farmland were developed in the 1940s. [8]
Initially, mail delivery to the Queens section was provided by the Brooklyn Post Office. [9] The Wyckoff Heights Post Office (ZIP Code 11237) at 86 Wyckoff Avenue was opened in 1951, serving north Bushwick and the Brooklyn portion of Wyckoff Heights. [10] When ZIP Codes were assigned in 1963, all areas whose mail was routed through a Brooklyn post office were given the 112 prefix. [11] The neighboring areas of Glendale and Ridgewood in Queens were given a Brooklyn mailing address, 11227, shared with Bushwick and Wyckoff Heights. [11] In addition, parts of Bushwick and Wyckoff Heights were in ZIP Code 11237. [12] After the 1977 New York City blackout, newspapers around the country published UPI and Associated Press ' photos of Bushwick residents with stolen items and a police officer beating a suspected looter, and Bushwick became known for riots and looting. [13] After the 1977 blackout, the communities of Ridgewood and Glendale expressed a desire to disassociate themselves from Bushwick. [14]
Following complaints from residents, Postmaster General William Bolger proposed that the ZIP Codes would be changed if United States Representative Geraldine Ferraro could produce evidence that 70% of residents supported it. [11] [15] After Ferraro's office distributed ballots to residents, 93 percent of the returned ballots voted for the change. [16] The change of the Queens side to ZIP Code 11385 was made effective January 13, 1980. [17] 11237 was reassigned to cover only Bushwick and Wyckoff Heights, and 11227 was eliminated. [12]
The first buildings constructed in the neighborhood were largely attached wood frame three- and six-family row houses.
Around the turn of the century, as urbanization moved northeast towards the borough line and into Queens, developers switched to masonry construction in order to conform to new building and fire codes. Many of these buildings are now part of the Cypress Avenue West Historic District. [18]
In the 1940s the last large-scale development in the neighborhood saw the construction of more automobile-oriented attached single-family homes with alleys and garages in the rear.
Wyckoff Heights is home to the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center at Wyckoff Avenue and Stockholm Street (originally the German Hospital of Brooklyn, renamed in 1918), and the former Wyckoff Heights Presbyterian Church at Harman Street and St. Nicholas Avenue (founded in 1895 [19] and rebuilt after a 1928 fire, [20] now the Ridgewood Pentecostal Church).
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City, United States. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Place Industrial Park (EWIPIP), bounded by the neighborhoods of Northside and Southside Williamsburg to the west, Greenpoint to the north, Bushwick to the south and southeast, and both Maspeth and Ridgewood in Queens to the east. Much of this area is still referred to as either Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Greenpoint with the term East Williamsburg falling out of use since the 1990s.
The L 14th Street–Canarsie Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored medium gray since it serves the BMT Canarsie Line.
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southeast; Brownsville to the south; and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the southwest.
East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough line to the north; the Queens borough line to the east; Jamaica Bay to the south, and the Bay Ridge Branch railroad tracks and Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. Linden Boulevard, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Atlantic Avenue are the primary thoroughfares through East New York.
Ridgewood Park, also known as Wallace's Ridgewood Park or the Wallace Grounds, and frequently confused with Grauer's Ridgewood Park, was a baseball ground in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. Both Wallace's and Grauer's are shown in Belcher Hyde's Map of Newtown in 1915. The baseball field was part of a larger entertainment area bounded Wyckoff Avenue, Covert Street, Halsey Street, and Irving Avenue. The baseball field was southwest of the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch tracks. Eldert Street, although depicted on the map as running through the baseball grounds, was not cut through southwest of the railroad tracks and the road remains interrupted there today. Originally the park was in Queens County, before its incorporation into New York City in 1899. This facilitated Sunday baseball playing, including the charging of admission, beyond the reach of Sabbath enforcers from the then-city of Brooklyn.
Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway and Auburndale; to the west by Pomonok, St. John's University, Hillcrest, and Utopia; to the east by Cunningham Park and the Clearview Expressway; and to the south by the Grand Central Parkway.
Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven to the south, and Middle Village to the north.
The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original Brooklyn elevated railroads. The remnant line operates as a spur branch from the Jamaica Line to Bushwick, Ridgewood, and Middle Village, terminating at its original eastern terminal across the street from Lutheran Cemetery. Until 1969, the line continued west into Downtown Brooklyn and, until 1944, over the Brooklyn Bridge to the Park Row Terminal in Manhattan.
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth to the north, Middle Village to the east, and Glendale to the southeast, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick to the southwest and East Williamsburg to the west. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary.
Myrtle Avenue is a 8.1-mile-long (13.0 km) street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Myrtle is a main thoroughfare through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Ridgewood, and Glendale.
Interstate 78 (I-78) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to New York City. In the US state of New York, I-78 extends 1⁄2 mile (800 m). The entirety of I-78 consists of the Holland Tunnel, which crosses under the Hudson River from New Jersey and ends at an exit rotary in Lower Manhattan. The tunnel and its approaches are maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).
The Halsey Street station is a station on the BMT Canarsie Line of the New York City Subway. Located on the border of Ridgewood, Queens, and Bushwick, Brooklyn, at the intersection of Halsey Street and Wyckoff Avenue, it is served by the L train at all times.
The Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues station is a New York City Subway station complex formed by the intersecting stations of the BMT Canarsie Line and the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line, served by the L and M trains at all times. It is located at Myrtle Avenue and Wyckoff Avenue in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens. The complex is connected by a set of stairs and several elevators and escalators between the elevated and underground levels. The station was renovated completely from 2004 to 2008.
The Jefferson Street station is a station on the BMT Canarsie Line of the New York City Subway. Located in Bushwick, Brooklyn at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Wyckoff Avenue, it is served by the L train at all times.
Eastern Parkway is a major east–west boulevard in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was built between 1870 and 1874 and has been credited as the world's first parkway. At the time of its construction, Eastern Parkway extended to the eastern edge of the then-independent city of Brooklyn.
The B54 is a bus route on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City. The line travels between Downtown Brooklyn in the west and Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues station in the east. The B54 operates from MTA New York City Bus's Fresh Pond Depot in Ridgewood, Queens. The route serves only the section of Myrtle Avenue within Brooklyn; the section within Queens is served by the Q55 bus.
The B52 is a bus route that constitutes a public transit line operating in Brooklyn, New York City, running mostly along Fulton Street, Greene Avenue, and Gates Avenue between Downtown Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The B52 is operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. Its precursor was a streetcar line that began operation by 1874, and was known as the Greene and Gates Avenues Line. The route became a bus line in 1941.
The Evergreen Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) that ran in Brooklyn and part of Queens in New York City. The line, at its fullest extent, ran between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The line consisted of two leased portions. The first portion, between Greenpoint and Jefferson Street, was leased from the Glendale and East River Railroad. The second portion, from Jefferson Street to Ridgewood, was leased from the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad Company, and was known as the Evergreen Branch, a name later extended to the rest of the line.
The Q58 and Q58 Limited are bus routes that constitute a public transit line operating primarily in Queens, New York City, with its southern terminal on the border with Brooklyn. The Q58 is operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. Its precursor was a streetcar line that began operation in November 1899. and was known variously as the Flushing–Ridgewood Line, the Corona Avenue Line, and the Fresh Pond Road Line. The route became a bus line in 1949.